Child Abuse - Research Paper Example

Child Abuse Introduction Child abuse covers all physical, emotional, and sexual actions of parents, caregivers, relatives, or strangers against children and minor individuals (Sachs-Ericson et al. 106). In addition, a neglect or failure to provide for the youngsters’ physical and emotional needs, such as food, affection, and medical care, is also a form of child abuse. A history of child abuse has been identified as a risk factor for a number of psychological and mental health problems in an adult’s life. Psychological problems of adults that are associated with child emotional, physical, and sexual abuse include personality disorders, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, substance abuse, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) indications (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 801). This wide range of psychological impact of child abuse implies a various pathways consisting of different moderating and mediating factors which can shed light on adult psychopathology and child abuse. This paper explores the causes of child abuse and its impact on one’s psychological and social well-being. Child Abuse and Emotion Regulation Childhood maltreatment experiences may induce a strong emotion that seems to affect an individual’s emotion regulation capacity. Researchers theorized that repeated trauma, like child maltreatment, can potentially compromise a successful emotion regulation (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 802). Similarly, studies reported that childhood abuse disrupts the acquisition of necessary interpersonal skills and emotion regulation. For instance, physically abused children of ages 6 to 12 years showed increased emotion dysregulation and fewer adaptive emotion regulation skills as compared to children in the same age group without histories of physical maltreatment (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 802). Studies also reported that females with sexual abuse background can experience similar emotion regulation difficulty. In one study, sexually abused females of 6 and 12 ages showed decreased capacity for proper regulation of their emotions as well as limited emotional awareness as compared to females of the same age group without maltreatment background (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 803). Similarly, research found that adults with physical, emotional, or sexual abuse histories in their childhood have increased levels of emotional non-acceptance and experiential avoidance. Burns, Jackson, and Harding (804) studied the impact of multiple types of child abuse experiences, focusing on the relationship between emotional regulation and emotional abuse. They hypothesized that participants who would be reporting child abuse experiences would exhibit greater emotion dysregulation than participants who would report no childhood experience. The study also predicted that the types of maltreatment would be significantly correlated with difficulties in emotion regulation and that emotion regulation difficulties would mediate the relationship between PTS and childhood maltreatment experience (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 804). The participants for the study were composed of female undergraduate students from a big Southeastern university with mixed racial and ethnic background. In terms of demographic variables, the participants with maltreatment history did not significantly differ from the participants without maltreatment experience. The study utilized research instruments for posttraumatic symptomatology, demographic information, emotion regulation difficulties, and child maltreatment history. The abuse subscales of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were used to categorize the participants into victims and non-victims of child abuse and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale instrument was used to assess the participants’ emotion regulation with respect to the lack of emotional awareness, emotional clarity, non-acceptance of negative emotions, limited access to regulation strategies that are regarded as effective, controlling impulsive behavior, and inability to engage in a goal-directed behavior (Burns, Jackson, and Harding 805). Further, the Trauma Symptom Inventory was employed for posttraumatic symptomatology inventory. The results of the study showed that females who reported a history of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse revealed higher emotion regulation difficulties than females who did not report any abuse histories. The emotional abuse was the most significant predictor of emotion deregulation while mediation analyses confirmed the relationship between emotional and physical abuse and PTS. Thus, improving emotion regulation strategies can help women with child abuse histories to decrease their PTS. Child Abuse and Physical Health Sachs-Ericson et al. (106) examined the impact of child abuse on the adults’ physical health and the possible long term effects of a child abuse history, particularly on abuse-health relationship. The participants were males and females of equal numbers with ages 18 to 93 years from South Florida who were examined and selected in terms of ethnicity, language preference, age, disability status, and sex (Sachs-Ericson et al. 110). In gathering data and record observation, all participants were interviewed with respect to demographic factors, physical disability, specific health problems, severity of health problems, self-efficacy, and childhood abuse including sexual, physical, and emotional. The results of the study indicated that child abuse was associated with different disability and medical problems. Lower self-efficacy among the respondents was found related to their history of child abuse and that self-efficacy shed light on the correlations between health problems and childhood abuse experiences (Sachs-Ericson et al. 113). Thus, child abuse is a potential lifelong risk factor for specific health problems and increased disability, particularly among the elderly. Child Abuse, Therapy, and Intervention In studying the heterogeneity of child sexual abuse victims with respect to symptom presentation after the abuse, Yancey, Hansen, and Naufel (113) examined unique subgroups in a sample of children with child abuse history who were presented for a treatment program called Sexual Abuse Family Education (SAFE). Project SAFE is a twelve-week psycho-educational group treatment program for child sexual abuse victims and their non-offending guardians (Yancey, Hansen, and Naufel 113). The 101 multiethnic child participants were composed of 19 boys and 82 girls, primarily Caucasians, with ages of 7 to 16 years. On the other hand, the parent or guardian participants were from 23 to 72 years old. For child-report measures, the instruments used were Children’s Depressive Inventory, Children’s Impact of Traumatic Events-Revised, and Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (Yancey, Hansen, and Naufel 115). For parent-report measure, the instruments used were Demographic Questionnaire, Child History Form, Child Behavior Checklist, and Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. The results revealed four clusters of children-parents participants. One of these clusters is the Highly Distressed group, in which members have high scores on both parent- and self-report measures. The Problem Behaviors group has members who scored within the normal range for self-report measure, but have high scores on parent-report measures. Another group is the Subclinical group wherein members have scores below the cutoff scores and below the mean for both parent- and self-report measures (Yancey, Hansen, and Naufel 115). The last group is the Self-reported Distress group, in which participants have high scores on self-report measures, but their scores for parent-report measures were below the clinical cutoffs. The study by Yancey, Hansen, and Naufel (125) found discrete differences among the victims of child sexual abuse with regard to outcome measures of both externalizing and internalizing symptoms. These differences resulted in four clusters of children-parents participants where each group has its distinct presentation of symptoms. This suggests the need for the treatment of child sexual abuse victims as a heterogeneous group that exhibits differences in symptom presentation after the abuse. The distinct clusters call for tailoring of therapeutic or psychological intervention to victims based on the type of outcomes presented. The interventions may include group treatments and specific treatment services that directly address the types and severity of symptoms displayed by the victims. Conclusion The common impact of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse is the emotional effect of such abuses on children. Children need social and emotional security that necessitate clear boundaries, predictability, and knowledge that their immediate caregivers would ensure their safety. Abused children experienced an unpredictable and frightening world where a slap or harsh word is a common threat to their physical and emotional security. Shaming, threatening, and yelling at children may affect their mental health or hinder their social development, causing a long term psychological scar. Research found that adults with physical, emotional, or sexual abuse histories in their childhood have increased levels of emotional non-acceptance and experiential avoidance. Moreover, a number of studies indicated that child abuse is associated with different disability and medical problems. For instance, Sachs-Ericson et al. (113) reported that lower self-efficacy among individuals with child abuse history was found related to their history of child abuse and that self-efficacy shed light on the correlations between health problems and childhood abuse experiences. Thus, child abuse is a potential lifelong risk factor for specific health problems and increased disability, particularly among the elderly. Since the extent to which children are affected by several types of abuse varies, therapeutic or psychological intervention to victims should be tailored to directly address the types and severity of symptoms displayed by the victims. Meanwhile, the hypothesis concerning the intergenerational transmission of abuse connects the parents’ or caregivers’ past or childhood experiences of abuse to their tendency to physically or psychologically hurt their children (Rodriguez and Tucker 254). This hypothesis supports the findings of a number of studies that adults’ childhood experiences of abuse have impact on their psychological and social well-being. Works Cited Burns, Erin E., Joan L. Jackson, and Hilary G. Harding. “Child Maltreatment, Emotion Regulation, and Posttraumatic Stress: The Impact of Emotional Abuse.” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 19 (2010): 801–819. Print. Rodriguez, Christina M., and Meagan C. Tucker. “Behind the Cycle of Violence, Beyond Abuse History: A Brief Report on the Association of Parental Attachment to Physical Child Abuse Potential.” Violence and Victims 26 (2011): 246–256. Print. Sachs-Ericson, Natalie, Amanda N. Medley, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, and John Taylor. “Childhood Abuse and Current Health Problems Among Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy.” Psychology of Violence 1, 2 (2011): 106–120. Print. Yancey, Thresa C., David J. Hansen, and Karen Z. Naufel. “Heterogeneity of Individuals with a History of Child Sexual Abuse: An Examination of Children Presenting to Treatment.” Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 20 (2011): 111–127. Print. Read More